Impressions of Aging and the Elderly in Country Music

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Impressions of Aging and the Elderly in Country Music Abstract This paper examines recorded country music from about 1920 to 1990 as a source of popular impressions of aging and old age. A sample of 100 songs, primarily from Billboard's Top 40 charts are content-analyzed and the data categorized into image areas. Overall, as expected, the images of aging in the lyrics of country music, both as a process and as a demographic category, are positive; however, interesting variations appear when gender and specific image category are controlled. One important measure of the perception of the aging process is the manner in which aging and old age are depicted in various cultural forms. The condition of old age in primitive and prehistoric societies has been described by the folk tales and cave drawings of that have survived to the present (Fisher, 1978). Likewise, it is possible that current societal views of aging may be illuminated through the impressions created by contemporary agents of socialization. And while it is difficult to determine whether stereotypical images are derived from reality or if, if fact, such images create reality (Clark, 1980), it is possible to investigate how and to what extent certain institutions reflect various images of the aging process. In the last decade, a number of social scientists have investigated the ways in which informal agents of socialization provide or support current stereotypes and attitudes held toward the elderly. A review of previous studies in the area indicates that researchers have examined aging in jokes (Davies, 1977; Palmore, 1971; Richman, 1977), birthday greeting cards (Demos and Jache, 1980), television drama (Harris and Feinberg, 1978), poetry (Clark, 1980; Sohngen and Smith, 1978), newspapers (Bochholz and Bynum, 1982) and literature (Janelli, 1988; Loughman, 1977; Sohngen, 1977). Of particular interest and importance to this study is the recent work of Cohen and Kruschwitz, (1990) which examines printed sheet music from 1830 to 1980 for impressions of aging and old age. While their search for popular sheet music is admittedly "nonsystematic" and their selection of image categories was "inductive," the authors have, in our view, made a significant contribution to the popular culture analysis of aging and the elderly.Research to date suggests that the elderly have been portrayed in contradictory ways with some images being negative and passive and others positive and active (Buchholz and Bynum, 1982). The question still remains as to what cumulative picture of aging and the elderly is painted by American music.

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